1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an outlet box having sides opened, and more particularly to an outlet box arrangement comprising a plurality of the side-open outlet boxes that may be combined in various manners to accommodate various needs for electric outlets installation.
2. Description of Related Arts
Outlet boxes are widely used in constructions and home improvements. Conventionally, an outlet box is composed of a metal box defining a receiving space with a front opening, through which electric outlets may be disposed in the receiving space. Mounting holes are so provided to the outlet box and electric outlets, correspondingly and respectively, that the electric outlets may be affixed to the outlet box with its sockets uncovered. The outlet box may include knockout holes that are susceptible to an impact force to form a through knockout hole on the side walls of the outlet box for facilitating wiring of the electric outlets. Such outlet box can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,821 to Tohanczyn, Jr. on Oct. 20, 1998.
In the course of installation of electric outlets, the outlet box with through knockout holes formed on its side walls is mounted to a wall stud with brackets. A set of electric outlets is affixed to the outlet box by fasteners securing through their respective mounting holes. Electric wires are managed enter the outlet box through the knockout holes for connecting the electric outlets to power sources. Usually, the wall finishes are done in flush alignment with the opening of the outlet box. Thereafter, a front cover may be attached to the outlet box for covering its opening while exposing the electric outlets.
One drawback of the conventional outlet box is the difficulty of arranging the wires to go through the knockout holes into the outlet box and connect them with the electric outlets. Connecting the electric outlets to the wire is somewhat inconvenient because the front opening of the outlet box is the only access, through which the connection job may be done, and it therefore does not provide adequate space for connecting the wires with the electric outlets. Thus, it happens very often that the wiring of the electric outlets is done before they are mounted to the outlet box. This causes another difficulty of wiring, because the wiring is done in a manner that the electric outlets are unsupported.
Another drawback of the conventional outlet box is its inability of expanding the capacity of receiving various numbers and sizes of electric outlets. The conventional outlet box has its top, bottom, left, right and back walls integrally formed with the front opening left for access into the receiving space defined by the walls. Therefore, its capacity of receiving electric outlets is fixed and cannot be expanded. This creates a problem when a location requires a number of electric outlets more than that the outlet box is able to contain. A conventional solution is to arrange two or more outlet boxes in a side-by-side manner to accommodate the excessive number of electric outlets. This arrangement, however, makes the wiring very difficult due to the barriers of the side walls as the wires are managed to go into the receiving space of each outlet box. Moreover, much effort is needed to arrange two outlet boxes in a side-by-side manner for lack of mounting designs to connect them together.
Thus, what is needed is an outlet box that can ease the installation of electric outlets and expand its capacity of receiving various numbers and sizes of electric outlets.